5. SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
Has she seen any recent reports about levels of violent crime?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) Link to this
The most recent report I have seen is the release of the police crime statistics yesterday that report on recorded offences. In the report, violence has eight categories ranging from minor assault to homicide. Nationwide, there has been an increase of 6.9 percent in violence over the last year. Violence has shown an increase this year, but that comes off the back of 2 years when it reduced. The level of public place violence has remained relatively static over the past 10 years. The increase in recorded violence has mostly been family violence.
How does she explain the statistics released yesterday, which show not only that violent crimes have increased by 16 percent since 2000, with serious assaults up by 17 percent and grievous assaults up by an astonishing 41 percent since 2000, but also that the increase in all of those crimes, in the last year alone, is the biggest jump in a single year since 2000; and why is violent crime getting worse under this Government rather than better?
I realise the member had a written supplementary question and therefore probably did not listen to my answer. I said to him that violence in public places has remained static for almost 10 years. The big increase in violence has been in domestic violence. The member is correct in saying that we have more reported domestic violence in New Zealand. That is good and it is bad. It is good that domestic violence is reported, and people are encouraged to report it. It is bad that we do have a problem of domestic violence in this country. That requires a response from more than just the police but from us as a community, also.
Martin GallagherFurther to the Minister’s previous answer, why precisely is more family violence now being reported?
I think family violence is being reported more often because people feel more confident to come forward and report it. I think it is important to look at what the police, as one of the agencies involved, are doing in terms of domestic violence. The press release from the Counties-Manukau Police District, which has seen one of the biggest rises in domestic violence, states that the things being done there include putting in place five family violence coordinators and a domestic violence response service. The police there are concentrating on repeat domestic violent offenders, because those are the people who are likely to go on and commit further offences, leading, in some cases, to the murder of their victims.
Can she confirm that, in addition to an increase in violent crime, the 11.8 percent increase in crime in Counties-Manukau and 8.1 percent increase in Waikato can be attributed largely to an increase in burglaries and theft committed by young offenders, according to acting Police Commissioner Stephen Long; if so, does that not make a mockery of the Government’s pledge card promise made in 1999 to “crack down on burglary and youth crime”?
The member might like to quote figures selectively from two areas, but I say to him that recorded crime is still 21 percent lower than it was at its peak in 1996. I will stand on the record of this Government, compared with that of the previous National Government, any day of the week. That Government was busy removing over 500 police staff at the time it left office.
Does she agree with the new Commissioner of Police, Howard Broad, who acknowledged on National Radio this morning that not enough police resources have been put into combating gangs and that filling the 1,000 new police places over 3 years that the Government has promised New Zealand First will “test us”; if not, why not?
First of all, I would like to congratulate the new Commissioner of Police, Howard Broad. That is a very good appointment. He is a person who knows the Auckland crime scene extremely well. I agree with Police Commissioner Broad that recruiting 1,000 additional police will test us, but we are putting in the effort and, in fact, we will train an additional 400 this year. Would the member not prefer to be in a Government that is putting an extra 1,000 sworn police in rather than in a Government that was busy taking 500 police officers out, in order to meet Bill Birch’s requirement to bring the cost down because of the INCIS blowout?
Ron MarkDoes the Minister believe that the supply and confidence agreement between New Zealand First and the Government, which provides for an increase of 1,000 front-line police officers plus an increase of up to around 250 non-sworn staff—a record increase in the front-line establishment of some 12.5 percent over 3 years—may go some way towards settling some of these problems?
Yes, I do, and I think it is important to share with the House the fact that the deployment of that additional resource will go first of all to the places that need it the most, so we can tackle those issues. I thank the New Zealand First members for the very constructive way they have worked with us. They are not into carping, whingeing, and grizzling, which is all we get from the National Party members, who did not put a statement out last year congratulating the Government when the crime statistics went down. It is all one way with them—they will moan, grizzle, and whinge.
Chester BorrowsIs the Minister at all concerned about the fact that murders have increased by 30 percent and sex crimes have increased by 6 percent in the last year, and has she confronted the Minister of Corrections as to why his rehabilitation programmes are not helping to reduce violent crime and may, in some cases, be making prisoners more likely to reoffend if they do them?
As a former police officer, Mr Borrows will know that the level of murders in New Zealand has remained pretty static over a long period of time. Sometimes it goes up, and sometimes it goes down. [ Interruption]
Madam SPEAKERI am very happy to start again. As a former police officer, the member will know that the level of murders in New Zealand has remained fairly static for quite a long period of time, and to the member’s credit—unlike the members on National’s front bench—he is nodding and agreeing with me. The figures go up, and the figures go down. Unfortunately, in the member’s own area there have been a number of murders this year, which has put a lot of stress on the Central Police District. But I am sure he was delighted to read that in the Wanganui area there has been a reduction in total crime of 4.5 percent.
What does she say to people who live in Perth Street in Ōtara, where a lack of police resources has meant that in the last few weeks one resident has died from a fight that police were called to twice, before arriving after an ambulance had already left with the victim, and where another resident took a baseball bat to a drug buyer’s car in frustration after weeks of calls to the police about a tinny house had not been acted upon?
I can say to people in Ōtara and in other parts of New Zealand that we can always do better. The police can always do better, and they are committed to doing that. If the member had listened to all commissioner Broad’s comments today, he would know that the commissioner is committed to doing better—and so is this Government, with the extra resources that are going into policing in New Zealand.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
I seek leave to table the published record of murders in New Zealand in 1996, and then the comparative figures for 1997 and 1998, which show a dramatic drop during the brief time when New Zealand First was in Government and then the resumption of an increase in 1999, when National was back in power by itself.